With the world populaton expected to grow 25% by 2050 there is an increasing need to improve agricultural sustainability and food nutrition.

A recently released study looks at plant biology in order to combat the fact that agriculture is approaching Earth’s 15% sustainability limit for crop production. Specialised plant membrane transporters - which are proteins that take up nutrients from soil, transport sugar and resist toxic substances - can be enhanced to affect certain aspects. This has already been applied practically to improving yields on salt-affected soil by up to 25%.

By understanding the biology of plant membrane transporters, non-gentically modified yet novel solutions can be made. The aim is to increase the sustainable use of limited soil nutrients and enhance human nutrition through biofortification.